Those watching the international plays for emerging signs of new opportunities cannot help but notice the increasing amount of upstream news coming out of India.

With the launch of the country's New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) early last year, the government was and is desperately keen to promote its E&P sector as open for business under new rules and better conditions.
It faltered, however, with its first efforts as many operators - after a careful look - maligned the whole process and vowed to steer clear.
This was a major blow, but despite the lack of many big hitters, India's director general of hydrocarbons went ahead and awarded about half of the original 48 blocks offered. He admitted the licenses could have been better marketed, with more detailed and attractive packages.
For the latest on this process, read the related news article on page 23. It is worth highlighting the fact that the country is doing some interesting work in other related exploration ventures, all aimed at boosting its domestic supply of hydrocarbons.
This includes the potential deepwater prizes contained within six blocks awarded in 1998. The Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) is in talks with global oil majors, including France's TotalFinaElf, for joint exploration ventures on these blocks.
The six deepwater blocks are dispersed among three basins: three in the Krishna-Godavari basin, two in the Keral-Konkan basin and one in the Kutch basin.
The Indian government specifically amended exploration rules to allow coverage of the international crude price regime for deepwater exploration firms recently.
The corporation originally was given exploration licenses in 1998 for six blocks without the coverage of international crude price regime. "The decision [to offer the international crude price regime] will allow us to forge alliances with global oil companies," said an ONGC spokesman. This will help ONGC get the investment and technological expertise it needs to undertake deepwater exploration, where it is lacking the know-how of international players.
ONGC has drawn up a plan to collect seismic data relating to deepwater wells and to create a research and development backup to absorb the new technologies necessary for such operations.
In the Krishna-Godavari basin, the ONGC already has discovered oil. It is conducting seismic and other geological tests to determine its extent. After failing in its first two attempts to find oil in deep waters, ONGC stuck crude in its third deepwater well at a water depth of 951ft (290m) in the Krishna-Godavari offshore basin.
During initial testing, the well flowed at a rate of 3,433 b/d of oil from the first objective, and around 23 MMcf/d (650 Mcm/d) of gas from the second objective, according to ONGC. The depth of the first and second wells were 1,148ft (350m) and 2,526ft (770m), respectively. It is estimated that the third well could produce up to 3,000 b/d.
The company also is conducting geological tests to map subsurface levels and the oil potential in the Kerala-Konkan basin. It already has moved its sole deepwater rig - Sagar Vijay - to the Kerala-Konkan basin after upgrading it to operate in water depths of up to 2,953ft (900m).
ONGC plans to drill exploratory wells in the Kerala-Konkan basin, and it already has invested US $34.2 million (Rs 1.5 billion) in deepwater exploration operations.
The national oil company plans to spend more on such projects in the coming years to tap vast deepwater oil reserves offshore India, optimistically estimated at 58.4 billion bbl (8 billion tonnes).
Of this huge figure, the Krishna-Godavari basin is estimated to have 21.9 billion bbl (3 billion tonnes).
Aside from these opportunities, India will invite bids for coalbed methane exploration blocks either this or next month. The ministry already has identified nine coalbed methane blocks in five states - Bihar, Gujarat, Madhaya Pradesh, Rajastan and West Bengal. The country possesses large unexplored deposits of high-quality coalbed methane gas in the Gangetic, Saurastra and Aravali regions in central and northern India.
As part of its efforts to harness new sources of coalbed methane, the Indian government has allowed ONGC to explore blocks in the Ganga valley. An ONGC team is working at Parbatpur near the Jharia coal fields in Bihar to establish the commercial viability of the coalbed methane discovery made by the corporation a few months ago.
Of the gas discovered at Parbatpur, ONGC chairman and managing director Bikas C. Bora said it was of a high quality with more than 95% methane and impurities like hydrogen sulfide present only in negligible amounts.
The corporation already is known to have initiated some talks with international companies for a possible tie-up in coalbed methane exploration, a new area of operation for the company.
How quickly progress will be made is open to debate. But the speed with which the government is pushing forward its proposals is starting to turn India from a struggling energy pauper into what could be one of Central Asia's strongest E&P powers.